The Gross, Hidden Truth About Airplane Coffee

I recently wrote a mini-manifesto on all the reasons I love coffee. But, I neglected to include one minor detail: The only time I will absolutely not drink coffee is on a plane. Why? Because it never fails to taste like cigarette ashes in tepid water, and the caffeine jolt is simply nonexistent.

Well, it seems that there is a reason airplane coffee is so gross. Some station agents “aren’t motivated” enough to clean the coffee container every morning, and even if they wanted to, they're not given the "proper supplies" to clean them. This has been confirmed by people who (supposedly) work in the airline industry in a chain on Reddit.

As HuffPost points out, this is not the first time airlines have been outed for their offensive handling of coffee. In 2013, it was discovered that airports in Dallas were using “dirty, mold-clogged hoses containing bacteria such as coliform and E. coli" (yep, that's the same bug that almost took out Chipotle recently.) In conclusion, I will once again trust my tastebuds and bring my own coffee instead. In emergencies, I also resort to Starbucks little freeze-dried coffee pouches.